April 27th, 1872.
My Dear Brother in the Lord,-The rights of Christ are to be recognized by the assembly of God at all times. In that we are happily agreed. But those rights may be looked at, in a case like the present, in either of two ways; namely, as we consider Him as the living Head of a body, whose members are on earth, while Himself is in heaven; or as the Head over God's house, which down here is the habitation of God, through the presence of the Spirit among us.
He knows how to act to perfection in both the two aspects; and when waited upon humbly by us, leads us, as He did Paul at Corinth, in the path which showed that the development of the new nature and the crippling of the old nature's actings could be blended with the vindication before man of God's truth and grace and holiness in the flock, bearing before man upon earth the holy name of the God of grace in truth.
Satan knows how to use the world and its principles, through the flesh of any of us, so as to confuse our minds, and to make it appear impossible to act in truth, grace, and holiness in every act, and to blend salvation for eternity before God, in heaven, with ruling and guiding in time before man upon earth, individuals, and companies.
It is evident too, I think, that, as the eternal Lover of my soul, Christ's discernment of me goes from the incorruptible seed of which I am born, right outward to everything in and about me-body, soul spirit, and world, flesh and Satan, all are discerned by Him in their relative actings on me, as one brought in Him to the Father through the Spirit. And this necessarily goes far beyond what is manifested in His dealings in time, and upon me, as what comes out before man when He is dealing with a company, as was true with any of the seven churches for instance.
The case at Corinth was a very peculiar one in this respect, that the company down there refused to purge itself from the sanction of a sin, of which the heathen around would have been ashamed. This, I think, must not be forgotten.
No doctor in medicine likes to give advice upon a case of a critical nature without seeing the patient and the case for himself, and the judges of this world have to hear the whole case ere they will commit themselves as to any opinion. Just so, I find it impossible to form an opinion of this case, without knowing all the circumstances, and without also seeing the individual.
The case of a man deceived unconsciously into drunkenness, and who knew he had been under the strong effect of liquor, though no one else did, and who came and told me of it himself, would be quite a different one from another who had gone and sat down among drinking men, and been the worse for liquor, and seen by others, and who had not come and made it known himself In the same way a man may come and tell me of a sin he has committed unknown to any one, the mere fact of his having committed such a sin would not justify my publicly announcing the sin. I only name these things as showing how impossible, without seeing a person, it is to form a sound judgment about the individual, or the conduct of the company toward him, or what the mind of Christ is as to the conduct, and its times to be pursued, both for the health's sake of the soul, and for the name and honor of God, and His assembly before the world.
The great thing, because it is what Christ Jesus Himself seeks, is to get the soul that has failed to take up Christ's interests against those of mere selfishness in human nature. If any one fails, and you can get him to take up God's and Christ's part against his failure, the day is nearly won. This all of us seek for in this case, that the soul should say, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I done this evil," &c. That gained, the weak ones in the company will not be in danger, and the settlement of the extent to which the conduct of the company must go in disciplinary judgment would soon be plain.
On the other hand, where sin has been with a high hand, blended too, perhaps, with great forwardness in the assembly, a high hand and very prompt, bold action may be necessary. Moses's haste and zeal for God was salvation.
God and Christ, and the Spirit and the truth, grace and holiness, must have the first place; that is clear to us all. On the other hand, we must not forget the soul that has failed, nor ourselves, as still in the body, as to our mode of carrying out our purpose, or the time of its public judgment, if that is needful. And in the present day in England, where energy is oft stronger than faith and patience, I should press this, without giving up one iota of the purpose of heart.
Our brother—has oft helped souls in such cases as this, and he probably knows the young man well, and is known to our beloved brother at -. I know no one better fitted to look into the matter; but God knows best.
Most affectionately, G. V. W.
P.S.-I will add a word or two, which, though self-evident when weighed, I find oft is not thought of as to self-judgment about sin.
Some sins are so shocking that if a man falls into them, he is shocked that he has fallen into such disgraceful sins; bu. t this is not self-judgment, either before God or man,
about those sins themselves, but disgust and surprise that they have overtaken him.
Another remark is this, that sin and the root of it are often different. And more than this, until you can reach the root, the fruit will not be judged aright. David and Solomon, and Job too, are instances of this.
I return the two letters as requested. Of course you cannot get to 2 Cor. 2 save as having passed through 1 Cor. 5, but that is, in one sense, owing to the peculiarity of the case. The spirit of the two chapters is, however, connected. But if both these references are left aside, the question in hand remains the same. The question of the soul that has failed, and of the extent to which a company has to clear itself, and of what is due to Christ before the world, remains the same.
Paul calls the person " that wicked person " (1 Cor. 5:1313But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Corinthians 5:13), &c.); the Oxford letter calls him " our brother," " our poor, dear, fallen brother," " our brother is inside," " our poor brother," " our brother." Paul's discipline was to put the evil out; the person would not give up his evil, nor the assembly stand against it, and hence his extreme discipline. I suppose in some cases public rebuke before all would take the place of exclusion; that is, if the evil were judged and ceased from, and in some cases, not before all, but before those who knew of the sin, if it were not known generally; but how far this would apply to this case I know not. The state of the soul, and the facts attendant on the committal of sin, must be thought of.
Satan was a liar from the beginning. God cannot lie. All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire; yet Paul would not put out the Cretians, though they were always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, but would have them rebuked sharply. (Titus 1:1212One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. (Titus 1:12).)
Of course there must be full fellowship kept up, and one mind, in all parts of the church of God, and prayer, faith, and patience, are needed for this.
Those whom the Lord loves and rules over at——and——will find He has one mind for them both in this matter, and none but Satan can make them have two minds in it.
I pray for you, and for our loving Lord's interest in this matter. G. V. W.